The Queen's father
by zoe.shepherd.56
Summary: After Walter's death, Sarah the Queen of Albion discovers he was her father. The romance between Sparrow the hero Queen and her knight is revealed through their diaries. (Author note: It won't be in diary format because that would be hard to write and I am lazy) PrincessxBen, SparrowxWalter
1. And so our story begins

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fable or any of the brilliant characters that Lionhead made.**

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**And so our story begins**

The rain pattered onto the cobbles around the Queen and her knight. His breathing was laboured and echoed around the square mingling with the sounds of her crying.

His hand stroked her face, brushing tears away with his ruff soldiers' hands.

"I'm sorry, Walter." She choked out, staring at the bright red growing blood stain on his shirt.

"No. Don't apologise. The darkness had been in me for such a long time. Long before this. Now you've freed me and I can finally see the stars."

She felt a hand on her shoulder and realised she was no longer alone with him. Ben Finn her friend and lover, stood with her. Her dog Harvey was resting his face on her knee, standing over them were her generals and good friends. Kalen of Aurora, Page of the Bowerstone resistance, Sabine of the Dwellers and Logan. Her brother Logan, who still brought a cocktail of anger to her stomach.

"Do you remember," Walter brought her attention back to him. "When I told you stories about your mother. Do you remember what you would say after every one?"

She laughed through the tears at the inside joke. "Teach me to be a hero."

"And somehow I did. I am so proud of you. Of all you've accomplished."

"I'd never have made it without you."

"Poppycock." He coughed violently and everyone moved closer in instinct.

"Please don't die Walter!" she begged. "I need you!"

"Ben, come here." Walter waved the lad closer.

"You're a tough sod, Walter. You can pull through this!" Ben Finn enthused as he knelt by the old man's head.

"Do you love Sarah?" Walter asked directly.

"Of course. I'd give my life for her." He ignored the surprised looks from his fellow Generals. The affair was a closely kept secret, nobody bar Walter and Harvey knew before this day.

"You better look after her as such then. Or Swiftie and I'll come back and haunt you." He threatened darkly.

Ben swallowed. Walter was one of the few people who'd ever intimidated him, even on his deathbed.

Sarah's crying increased in volume.

"Please don't leave me." She lamented.

"Don't be sad, Sarah. And don't be guilty. You've freed me from the Crawler's grasp and I will always be grateful."

"I wish there had been another way."

"Sarah, after I'm gone go to your mothers tome. You'll find a broken stone in the coffin, just below her left shoulder. There's a letter and two diaries. Read them."

"But whose are they?" She asked confused at such a cryptic request from a dying man.

He didn't answer and never would.

Even the pounding rain couldn't drown out the Queens wail of absolute despair.

* * *

Ben Finn could only remember he had been dreaming about apples, when her surprised shout woke him.

Soon his gun was in hand and despite the fact all he was wearing was a pair of dark blue boxers, he still ran to save his soon to be wife.

Sarah however was not in need of saving. Their sitting room was devoid of people, or anything else that could possibly hurt her. She looked hurt though. Her hand was covering her mouth, her eyes fixed on the letter held in her hand.

"Darling?" he asked hesitantly. She looked towards him, her eyes swimming in tears, and extended her hand. He gently took the letter from her and began to read.

My dear Sarah,

Before you read further, you should know that I love you more than I've ever loved another person and definitely more than I've ever said aloud. I am deeply proud of the person you have become and the triumphs you've had. Fighting beside you has been a pleasure, and I'll miss you deeply when I've finally laid down in Avo's garden.

And now for the truth. Secrets are always hardest to confess after they've lain dormant for many years and this one has weighed heavily on my mind for twenty long years. Your mother, father and I lied to you, Sarah. Malcolm wasn't your father, I was. Your mother and I had a long affair and I loved her very deeply. She also loved me.

Not being able to call you daughter has pained me more than I can describe and I am sorry that you could only find out after our deaths.

Now I can rest easy, now you have the truth.

Until we meet again in Avo's garden. Though not too soon. I want to hear lots of hero's tales about your exploits.

With love from Walter

"Oh Sweet Avo." Ben muttered as he finished the letter.

"He was my father." She said in shock. "Now everything makes sense. Why I never looked like Logan or Malcolm. Why Walter was always such a better father than Malcolm."

She slumped to the floor and Ben pulled her into his chest.

"I miss him so much." The guilt of his departing was thick in her voice. "I can't believe I was never told!" She suddenly flared. "Why the hell didn't they tell me, for Avo's sake?"

"Darling, he'll probably explain in the diary."

She froze at the diary's mention and reached out to two books on the table. The front of one held the seal of the Beck family, designed by Walter himself, a sword with a bent hilt over a normal crest. The other held the Bowerlake seal. She opened her mother's first and Ben decided to leave her to her reading.

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Author note: This plot has been kicking around my brain for a long time ever since I finished fable 3 like two years ago and I've finally started getting something down. I'll try and update but I'm starting my A-levels in five days so don't hope too much.


	2. The Road To Rule

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fable or any of the brilliant characters that Lionhead made.**

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**The road to rule**

Annie's POV

I didn't know where I was. Pale, white tendrils of mist were obscuring my view and clinging at my body. I walked forward, my footfalls muted, making almost no noise. My every sense was heightened, waiting for what was to come.

Suddenly I heard a familiar noise, barking.

Benedict, my dog, was somewhere ahead of me in the fog. I began to run forward following the sound of his bark. "Benedict!" I yelled.

I found him soon sat under a tree that loomed out of the mist, the branches looking briefly like skeletal arms. He turned to look at me, his tongue lolled from his mouth and he panted as always.

I knelt slightly, the cold mud seeping through the cloth of my black adventurer's trousers to my knee. "Benedict!" I called softly "Come here boy!"

He stood and then ran off in the opposite direction. I ran after him, calling, trying to bring him back. Suddenly I arrived at the edge of a pit. It was large and haphazardly done. A spade was sticking out the ground on the other side.

I heard another bark and I realised Benedict was in it so I walked up to the edge and looked down. A growing sense of horror of and revulsion claimed me, and I cried out.

Benedict was sat on a pile of bodies and each one I recognised. Alex, Marion, Joel, Haley and Christian. All of my loved ones, thrown in a hole. Some had cut-throats, others had been shot. Benedict, too, had a bullet hole in his right side still oozing blood. It was stained around his muzzle too and I wondered if he'd been picking at his wound until I saw that Alex had had his throat ripped out. No, no it couldn't be…

* * *

I screamed and sat up. A dream, just a horrid guilt soaked dream. I wrapped my arms around myself and shivered. They felt clammy with the cold, as was the rest of me. Nightmares were just part and parcel for sleep with me. The things I'd experienced had left their marks on my psych and I always expected to wake like this.

My survival instincts began to override my fear and I grabbed my Master Katana from its sheath and slid out from my blankets into a crouch. The ship I had taken back from The Tattered Spire had landed first at Bloodstone, by my request, where I had found that my Christian and Haley had had their throats cut in the night. The perpetrators had left no clues but I suspected the Assassins guild. Lucien had used them in the past against me, it made sense for stealth to be used in Bloodstone. With no police force to speak of, the people policed themselves. If Lucien had sent guards they would have been killed and my family would have likely survived.

I waited for a good ten minutes. No bandits crashed into my camp as I kind of hoped they would. A fight would distract me from my thoughts and distractions were very welcomed. I sighed, put the weapon away and stood. My legs complained about the uncomfortable position they'd been forced into but I ignored it as I stared up to the heavens. The moons position in the sky indicated it was still a good few hours until dawn and crashing about in the middle of the night in the Bandit coast was unwise. I rarely travelled at night, only if a place was too dangerous to risk sleeping. This little hollow I'd discovered was relatively safe and in my fifteen years of adventuring it had never been discovered. I settled myself back down to get some more sleep, but my nightmare wouldn't leave my mind's eye.

It was mostly symbolism. While I may not have pulled the trigger that killed them or wielded the knife that cut their throats, I blamed myself for being unable to save them. My family or millions of people, the choice had been. I'd done what I had to, I'd been the hero.

And what had it gotten me? What had _any_ of this gotten me?

Revenge for Rose? Fame and substantial fortune? I had nothing. No family, no friends, not even my faithful companion. My Benedict who'd jumped in front of the bullet and died in vain. I closed my eyes, trying to banish the tears. I hadn't cried since the day I returned home from the Spire the first time around, when I met Marion again. I rubbed my hands over my face and turned onto my side. I had a long way to travel before I arrived in Bowerstone. I needed to sleep.

* * *

I was dreaming again, but this time I was aware of the fact. I was standing at the end of a long pathway which cut off directly behind me. It was surrounded by water that stretched off into the distance. At regular intervals down the path way, were large, iron gates each one shut. At the end of the path was the huge hulking shape of Castle Fairfax towering into the sky, even at this distance, intimidating. I walked towards the first gate in front of me and stepped back in surprise as Theresa appeared.

"Welcome, Sparrow." She said. Her hands clasped in front of her body as usual.

"Where are we?" I asked. I had realised that my guild master had invaded my dreams once again, and had designed this setting.

"This is the road to rule, a path that leads to the throne of Albion, via revolution. Each gate represents growing support for the cause." She smiled, a rare occurrence. "But don't worry Sparrow, it isn't your path to take."

I let out a relieved breath. Revolution did not sound fun. Throwing myself into more long-winded quests was not what I wanted to do, now Lucien was defeated and dead. The fact that the focus of my life for such a long time was dead was still an alien concept to me.

"Then why are we meeting here?" I questioned.

"I have one more thing to ask of you, Sparrow." She cut me off when I tried to respond. "I know I promised not to interfere with your life after Lucien's death, but fate and destiny is forcing my hand."

I sighed, giving myself in to my fate. "What do you want me to do?" I asked with a long suffering tone.

"Albion is on the brink of disaster. Lucien had no heir and the uncertainty is breading riots. You must go to Bowerstone and declare yourself Queen."

I gaped at her. "No Theresa! I can't be a Queen, I haven't got a regal bone in my whole body! I couldn't rule my way out of a paper bag!"

She remained unmoved by my pleading. "As Lucien's killer, you have a legal claim to the throne, and you will be a much better Queen than you realise."

I shook my head in disagreement

"Now wake up, you have a long road ahead of you."

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Walter's POV

The headquarters of the Albion army was ahead of me. Tall and imposing, holding most of the officers that led the most destructive force in Albion. Or one of them at least. I took a calming breath and walked to the front door.

A soldier inside directed me towards my destination and I walked into a small waiting room. There was only one other man in there, sat by the door to the examination room. He looked up and smiled. "Here for a medical too?" He asked.

"Yes. My names Walter Beck." I sat down next to him and took a closer look. His hair is dark brown and brushed forwards into a quiff of sorts which flops over dark brown eyes. His smile is cocky. I like him immediately.

"Jack Swift, though most just call me by my second name." We shook hands.

"Well, then Swift. Why are you joining the army?" I asked.

"Oh you know, the usual. Fame, glory, women who love a man in uniform." He smiled slightly "What about you Walter?"

"Needed a job." I lied. There was no way I'd tell a stranger my actual reasoning. "Are we the only people who are joining?"

Swift was interrupted by the examination door being pushed open and a gruff voice questioning "Walter Beck?"

I stood to follow and nodded when Swift said "Good luck."

The doctor looked up from a pile of paper with my name on as I entered and said. "Stand over there." I followed his gaze to the corner of the room which held a table with stethoscopes and other manor of tools on it.

He finally walked over and said "Right mister Beck please remove your shirt."

I complied and he started the examination. It was long, and boring and not worth describing. However eventually I was given a clean bill of health and I was in the army. It was right when I was doing my last button up when the soldier from the entrance rushed in and shouted "Doctor have you heard?" He didn't give a chance for the man to answer before yelling "King Lucien has been killed by Sparrow!"

Balls.

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**I am so very sorry it took me so long to update. I honest to God tried but I'd open the document and stare at it and get this feeling of just not being bothered.**

**But it doesn't matter because now its here. ;-)**

**So how did I do? Is Walter and Swiftie close to the in game characters?**


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